Seeking the Storm
by BadWolfGirl01
Summary: Reunion. Rose Tyler lied that day on the beach. 11 years after Canary Wharf, the dimension cannon has failed, and Rose and her son are searching desperately for another way back before separation from the TARDIS kills her when Rose's altered DNA is brought to Torchwood's attention. With his mum's notes, Tony must cross the Void and reunite his parents before its too late. *Revised*
1. Rule Number One: Rose Tyler Lies

**A/N: This is a revision/rewrite of "Seeking the Storm". The basic plot is still the same, but I've made some changes based on ideas I had. Some chapters will appear with only slight edits; other will never be seen again. Some may be completely rewritten.**

 **There is no schedule for this work; rather, it'll be updated as the muse allows, as is the case with "Heroes of London". "She Who Dreams" and sequels are my main priority.**

 **Disclaimer: All recognizable plot, characters, settings, and dialogue belongs to the BBC. I am not making any money off of this. The original characters and overall plot of this fic belongs to me.**

 **Some dialogue taken from s2e13 "Doomsday".**

Rule Number One: Rose Tyler Lies

"Five an' a half hours," Rose demanded through her tears. "He said to always wait five-an-a-half hours, Mum. He'll come for me, he will!" She stared at the white, white wall in front of her as though she could will the object of her patience into existence.

"Rose," Pete interjected softly, "the breach is closed. The hoppers aren't working anymore. I'm sorry, but—"

"You don' know 'im!" Rose cried, sobbing fiercely now. "He promised!"

"I'll stay with her, boss," Mickey said quietly, moving forward to wrap his arms around his once-girlfriend. "Bring her to the mansion when she's ready. You take Jackie, get her settled in."

"Thanks," Pete said wearily. "C'mon, Jacks, let's give Rose some space."

"Thanks, Mick," Rose whispered into his shoulder.

Six hours later, Mickey gently tugged her away from the wall. "Rose, you need to get some sleep."

"But what if he comes an' 'm not here?" she asked, genuinely terrified. "What if he leaves again? Thinks I don' want to come back?"

"We'll leave him a note," Mickey said, even as he longed to tell her that there was no point.

So they did.

"Why can't you just be happy here?" Jackie yelled, two weeks later. "We've got everything we could possibly need!"

"This isn't my life anymore, mum!" Rose answered, matching Jackie's volume. "Stuck on the slow path, day-to-day, I can't do this now that I've seen what's out there! An'—I love him, mum, don't you get it?"

"Rose," Pete called from the living room, where he'd been very pointedly _not_ listening, "We need to go into Torchwood to get your identity sorted out. Jackie's was simple, but it's going to be more difficult with you."

"This isn't finished," Jackie said ominously, as Rose exited the kitchen.

They'd settled on the backstory of Rose being kept secret, enrolled in tiny, out-of-the-way boarding schools, to keep her life away from the media. It wasn't the most soundproof story, but with Torchwood and the president—one Harriet Jones—behind her, the public accepted it quickly.

She went to work at Torchwood, despite her deep loathing of the place, because it was the closest she could get to her old life, and Pete needed her experience.

It was just under a month after Canary Wharf, when, while at work, Rose felt something, a tingle in her mind, like when she and the Doctor had made love. The nausea she'd been feeling off and on suddenly clicked, and she froze, eyes widening, as she realized.

"Rose?" Mickey asked. "Somethin' wrong?"

"Outside, now," she whispered faintly.

"What is it?" he asked, following her.

"Mickey, I think I'm pregnant."

"You and the Doctor?"

"Yeah," she said, her eyes falling to her feet. "Mick, what'm I gonna do?"

Mickey frowned, likely coming to the same conclusions she had. "You can't trust Torchwood with this, babe. If word gets out to the wrong people…"

"I know. 'M not stupid. D'you know anyone who you trust?" Rose asked quietly.

Owen Harper was abrasive and standoffish, but he was a respected doctor at Torchwood and, more importantly, could be trusted to keep her secret. And he did. The lack of precedent for a human-Gallifreyan pregnancy was a problem, but Owen helped her through it.

Well, sort of.

He could keep her and her child's bodies healthy, but her mind was a different story. About three months into her self-proclaimed exile in this universe, just before she was starting to show, she woke up to the Doctor's voice whispering in her head.

She turned, taking in the beach, the rocks, the grey sky overhead. Fitting, although she dared to allow herself to hope that the Doctor was going to be able to come and get her. Rescue her from this living hell; the only thing she was thankful for was that the bond hadn't been completed yet.

Rose didn't think she could live with the agony of the severing of minds that the Doctor had explained to her, back on Krop Tor where he'd finally given into his desires.

"Rose."

She turns, straining for the familiar-as-breathing groan of the TARDIS, only to see a faint, flickering projection of the man she loves more than the universe. She feels her heart shatter again as she realized—this wasn't a rescue.

It was goodbye.

"Where are you?" she gets out, her voice cracking— _already_!

"In the TARDIS," he answers, his voice shaky as well, but holding it together better than she.

He always was better about hiding his emotions.

"There's one tiny little gap in the Universe left, just about to close, and it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a super nova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye." He manages a trembling laugh, and Rose feels her eyes begin to burn with the tears.

"You look like a ghost," she whimpers faintly.

"Hold on," he tells her, a shadow of his former confidence leaking through. This, at least, is something he can fix. He sonics something, the console she assumes, and solidifies.

He looks so close.

 _Sod it._ She lifts a hand, unable to comprehend that he can be so close to her and yet so very far away. "Can I— "

"I'm still just an image," the Doctor says softly, sadly, his eyes filling with sorrow and pain. "No touch."

For someone as tactile as this Doctor, she's sure it is utter agony.

"Can't you come through properly?" she questions, feeling the tears start to fall.

"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."

She loves him more than two universes.

"So?"

He laughs weakly, staring hungrily at her as though he's a starving man and she's a feast, one he can't reach.

It _is_ an apt description.

"Where are we? Where did the gap come out?" the man she loves asks, and the curiosity tells her he's trying, he's trying.

"We're in Norway."

"Norway. Right," he says, trying to sound as though of course, I knew we would be here.

"About fifty miles out of Burgen. It's called Darlig Ulv Stranden," she responds, fumbling slightly over the words, though not badly, considering how she could hardly pronounce 'Raxicoricofallipatorious' but two years ago. The baby's changing her, changing her brain, and it's far easier to learn languages, math, science—anything, really—now.

"Dalek?" the Doctor exclaims.

"Dar-lig," she stresses. "Norwegian for Bad. This translates as Bad Wolf Bay."

She sees his surprise, the slight worry there. Chooses to ignore it in favor of other, more pressing matters. "How long have we got?"

"About two minutes."

It feels like a death blow, and she struggles for air, her mind going blank. "I can't think of what to say!"

"You've still got Mister Mickey, then?"

And here's her opening. "There's five of us now. Mum, Dad, Mickey… and the baby."

"You're not?" There's hope lighting up his eyes, but also pain and fear and guilt and she knows, she knows that he'd tear apart universes without conscious thought to get to his child.

So she lies.

"No. It's mum. She's three months gone. More Tylers on the way," and there's a ghost of a smile on her face, she knows, and she sees relief on his face, relief but sorrow, and she knows he wishes it was her.

It makes her insides curdle with guilt, but after all, they'll have to come up with a cover story for this baby, and why not this one?

"And what about you?" he asks after a moment. "Are you— "

She wants to lighten the moment. "Yeah, I'm back to working in the shop."

"Oh." There's a slight pause, and she sees the disappointment on his face. "Good for you."

"Shut up," she says with a tearful laugh. "No, 'm not. There's still a Torchwood on this planet. It's open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens."

He chuckles somberly, but she can tell he's slightly surprised. She wants to tell him about how much she loathes it, but how it's the closest she can get to the stars, and that's where she's meant to be, dancing among the stars with him—and their child. But the words stick in her throat, choking her, and the moment passes.

"Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth. You're dead, officially, back home. So many people died that day and you've gone missing. You're on a list of the dead. Here you are, living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have," he says, smiling at her.

"Am I ever gonna see you again?" she cries, finally losing the battle with her tears.

"You can't." It's so short, simple, and it shocks her to the core. _Sod the universes!_ She thinks fiercely, immediately set on proving him wrong. She's got to.

"What're you gonna do?"

"Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life, Last of the Time Lords."

"On your own?" He's rubbish on his own, he can't be on his own. "I— " she pauses, her tears getting in the way of her speech. Takes a deep breath. "I love you."

"Quite right, too," he whispers with a tiny, tiny smile.

 _Please, please, I need to hear you say it,_ she thinks desperately. Not knowing what she'll do if he doesn't. She knows it's hard for him, but—she needs to hear him. Needs the affirmation of his feelings.

"And I suppose," he starts off, getting her attention, "if it's my last chance to say it, Rose Tyler— "

The projection fades, and he's gone.

Rose Marion Tyler falls to the sand and sobs as what little fragment was left of her heart vaporizes, dissolves, unable to handle this last stressor. As Jackie tries futilely to comfort her, a single thought echoes endlessly in Rose's mind.

He didn't say it.

They went with the cover story Rose had inadvertently created when speaking to the Doctor, and both Tyler women began appearing less and less frequently in public as well as in Torchwood. After the baby was born, Rose immediately went back, but she was changed in more ways than one.

Smarter, faster… There were other changes, she was sure, but whether they came from Bad Wolf—which she was starting to remember—or were from the baby, she didn't know.

As the years passed, Tony grew older and smarter, and Rose became aware of a danger more real and deadly than any she'd ever faced.

Rose Tyler was a dead woman walking.


	2. Compromised

**A/N: This chapter is reworked a bit, as some information in it has been presented previously, now.**

Compromised

Rose Tyler was a dead woman walking.

She'd known that for some time now; ever since she'd learned what Bad Wolf (and giving birth to a fully Time Lord son) had done to her body. Telepathy, increased healing rates, a larger and more efficient brain, and the icing on the cake: an extra strand of DNA. Torchwood didn't know about any of it, of course; if any of them found it surprising that she'd completed the courses for a doctorate in astrophysics in a year, no one let on about it. Of course, being that it was assumed she'd been in private boarding schools learning Smart Things—most definitely capitalized, she mused—most of her life, it really wasn't that surprising, after all. She was the Director's Daughter—a title in and of itself—and the most prominent field commander, the sole reason for many, many mission successes: no one would speak out about her.

Of course, keeping her physiology secret from Torchwood's scientists was the least of her worries; if she didn't find a way back to her original universe, and more importantly, the TARDIS, soon, she wouldn't be alive long enough to be tortured and experimented on. She didn't know exactly what the reason for her dependency on the TARDIS was, other than it had been created while she and the ship were merged as one. _My Heart,_ she thought, remembering the exchange between herself and the sentient timeship. The lack of the comforting hum of a constant presence in her mind had nearly driven her mad in the first few months after Canary Wharf. Even now, she still had trouble sleeping.

Rose sighed, shaking her head to dispel the dark thoughts. She picked up her glass of wine and took a sip, staring out over a London that, but for the zeppelins, could've nearly been her own. She still mourned the failure of the Dimension Cannon; the project had been her entire focus the first four years of her life here. For nearly two years after the Cannon died, Rose had hardly been able to function. Her only hope of returning to the Doctor had been crushed, sending her spiraling down further into the horrible depression that had plagued her since Bad Wolf Bay. Now, however, she had a new project—one that, although it couldn't take her to her original universe by itself, could help return her to the traveling life she loved—and hopefully to the weakest spot in the walls of the universe..

Rose took another swallow of wine, sighing with relief as the alcohol dulled her ever-present headache—an effect of the separation from the TARDIS—and twisted the strap of the vortex manipulator about her left wrist. It was never taken off, except when in the shower. Along with the 3D glasses that showed 'Void stuff', her piece of psychic paper, and her hand-made sonic screwdriver (Tony had helped her make it), it was her most prized possession. She was currently modifying the space hopper, hoping to make it function similarly to the dimension hoppers Pete and his Torchwood team had been using, prior to Canary Wharf.

Rose was just about to swallow the last of her glass of wine when her phone rang. Grimacing, she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sweetheart!" Jackie Tyler's enthusiastic voice came over the line.

"Hi, mum," Rose answered, her exhaustion leaking through in her voice.

"You sound exhausted," Jackie commented. "Listen, Sweetheart, Pete 'n I are goin' out to dinner tonight. It's our anniversary. Would you watch Tony, or is it too much trouble?"

Rose grinned at the mention of her ten-year-old son. "'Course I will, mum." Tony had been the only light in her life during the years of severe depression she'd gone through, both after Bad Wolf Bay and after the dimension cannon's failure. Even though she'd been forced to treat him more like a brother for several years, until he was old enough to be discrete with the secret, Tony was a piece of the Doctor, and as such, was the most precious thing (living or otherwise) she had in this universe. "You an' Pete have fun."

"Thanks, darling, and we will. Bye!" The phone call cut off abruptly. Rose frowned at the phone. Something didn't feel right. She sighed, shaking her head, and shoved the unease to the back of her mind.

She would regret that decision for the rest of her (extremely long) life.

OoOoO

"Tell me a story, please?" Tony begged. Rose smiled at the little boy snuggled next to her on the couch. Anthony Jonathon Tyler was ten years old, had gravity-defying brown hair, and hazel eyes. He was brilliant, too—with the Doctor as his father, of course, there had never been any doubt.

"What kind of story do you want to hear?" Rose asked. Tony frowned, chewing his lip. "An adventure?" she inquired, noting his indecision. The young boy's eyes lit up.

"Can you tell me the one when you were in orbit around a black hole?" he asked. Rose nodded.

"Sure. The Doctor and Rose Tyler, the stuff of legends, landed in a small storage cupboard…"

Rose was just to the point in the adventure when they were crawling through maintenance tunnels, trying to escape from the possessed Ood, when there was a pounding on the door of the Tyler mansion. "What the hell?" Rose muttered, getting to her feet.

"Open up!" a male voice shouted. "You will surrender in the name of Torchwood!"

"Shit," Rose breathed. She added a few other curses in languages not of Earth for good measure.

"Mum?" Tony asked. "Mum, why is Torchwood coming here? Grandad's the Director!"

"I don't know, sweetheart, but I think we need to leave." Rose ran to the room she had in the mansion, throwing clothes into a rucksack. Tony, genius that he was, had already figured out what she was doing, and hurried to the kitchen to fill a bag with food and water. Rose filled another bag for her son, moving as quickly as she could. "Tony, put some shoes on," she ordered him. The boy nodded and did as she asked.

"Rose Marion Tyler, you are now the property of the Torchwood Institute. You will come quietly," the man called. There was a massive crash, and Rose knew that the door had been broken down. She grabbed her car keys and sprinted through the house, pulling Tony behind her.

"Out the back door, quickly," she hissed. "Take the keys, get in the car; I'll be right there." Tony ran without another word. Rose paused a moment, using her sonic to seal the door. It wouldn't last long, but it would provide some sort of delay. She then booked it, slamming the car door, starting it, and flooring the accelerator before the Torchwood agents noticed her.

As she drove, Rose pulled out her phone and dialed Jackie. "Mum, this is an emergency. Tony an' I have been forced to run, an' we can't contact you again. Don't go back to the mansion; you an' Pete are both targets, now. My little project is very close to bein' finished, an' I'll try to let you know before I leave. Stay safe, an' I love you." She hung up the phone, praying—though she knew not what to—that her parents would see the message before it was too late.

"Mum, why does Torchwood want you?" Tony asked from the passenger's seat.

"S'complicated," she said with a sigh, throwing her phone out the window so Torchwood couldn't trace it.

"Is it because you don't age?"

"That's part of it," Rose acknowledged. "Think s' more the time-control bit that they really are after, though."

"Do they know about me?" Tony asked worriedly. "It sounds like they were only looking for you. I'm sure that the scientists would be ecstatic about a part-Time Lord, part-Vortex-augmented human kid. If they're interested in your triple-helix DNA, what would they think about mine?" The boy paused, frowning. "Welll, I don't actually know if they have temporally-aligned scanners. You cobbled one of your own together, right? Not that it matters where Torchwood's concerned."

Rose frowned. "Yeah, I did. Don't think they know 'bout you, love, but let's explore that possibility in the morning. You an' I are both tired."

"Yeah," Tony agreed. "I haven't slept in four days, so it's time for me to take a kip."

OoOoO

 _It had begun the night they spent on Krop Tor. Curled against him on the single tiny bed, Rose had taken the first step._

 _"_ _It doesn't matter, you know."_

 _"_ _What doesn't matter?"_

 _"_ _The TARDIS bein' gone. I don't travel with you 'cos I get to see the universe, you know."_

 _"_ _Rose…"_

 _"_ _I do it 'cos I love you. An' I'm never gonna leave you. Even if we're stuck on one planet, in one time, for the rest of my life. 'M worried 'cos I know She's all you've got left of Gallifrey, an' I know how much it would hurt you to leave Her behind."_

 _"_ _Rose Tyler…" the Doctor said, in that way that made her shiver._

 _"_ _Don't say it. Don't say anything. I know we're not like that. I just wanted you to know. S'not like we have to change anything, yeah? You just needed to know."_

 _"_ _Don't say anything at all?"_

 _"_ _There's nothin' to say."_

 _"_ _What about 'Rose Tyler, I love you'?"_

 _She kissed him, then, lips mashing against lips. It was fierce, passionate, tongues tasting, exploring, and time stopped. The Doctor made love to her on an impossible planet, beneath a black hole, and somehow it was a fitting beginning to it all._

 _The day of the beach, her heart had broken, and severe depression had set in. The knowledge of the tiny life—a piece of the Doctor—inside her was the only thing that kept Rose alive._

 _It had been so difficult, having a Gallifreyan child. There was nothing, no precedent, that could tell her what to expect. Rose had known he was a boy long before anyone else, when they first made a telepathic connection. The mother/son bond was strong, though not the same as the marriage bond. Rose had sobbed for a very long time when the bond was first made, staring at the ring engraved with her and the Doctor's names (his Gallifreyan one, of course, and what her name would've been in that language) entwined and worrying it about her finger. They had been visiting Jackie to ask her if she would be willing to consent and give Rose away in a formal bonding ceremony when the Cybermen ghosts appeared and her world had been turned on its head._

 _Rose had hidden away when she could no longer conceal the pregnancy, as had Jackie, who had been pretending to be carrying. No one would question the genetics of Jackie and Pete Tyler's child, while those who knew Rose's origins would demand to know about her son's physiology. It was a lie they all hated, but a necessary one. And if Rose was more affectionate to her young brother than was usual, or he sometimes called her 'mum' in public, well, there was enough of an age gap that their relationship was a bit different. And if the boy was a genius, well… there's one in every famous family. Just look at his older sister, completing a doctorate in a year!_

Rose sighed, pulling herself out of her reverie, and looked around the drab hotel room. She had checked them in under aliases: Sarah Jane and James Lewis. It had been strange, calling Tony her son. A quick use of the psychic paper, however, and some money she'd covertly sonicked from a cash point, and she had a room that couldn't be traced back to Rose Tyler, Vitex heiress.

"Once I finish fixing up my manipulator, we can get out of here and start looking for a way home to your dad, sweetheart," Rose said as Tony cuddled against her. The double thrum of his hearts felt like home. There was a necklace around his neck, a perception filter that kept people from noticing his hearts. A similar perception filter attached to her TARDIS key kept the general public from noticing that she hadn't aged a day in the eleven years she'd lived here.

"Dad will want me, right, mum? He's not going to be ashamed of me? Because I'm part human?"

"Don't you ever think that," Rose said fiercely. "The Doctor isn't like that. He loves me, and you are a product of that love. He lost his children in the Time War, and I know how much it hurt him. He wanted a family. Don't you ever think you are inferior."

"I miss Dad. Is it possible to miss someone you've never met?" Tony asked, his eyes filling with tears.

"You have met him, Tony. Through my memories. And I miss him too, more than anything. I swear to you, we will find him. Now go to sleep, sweetheart. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"G'night, mum."

Rose tucked the blankets tightly around them and flicked off the light. She snugged down on the bed, wrapping her arms securely around her son. "G'night, Tony Tyler." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head and closed her eyes, almost immediately falling asleep.


End file.
